Violin Deal Shows New Wrinkle in Flash-Storage Race

Bringing smartphone-style data storage to computer rooms is one of the hottest topics on the startup scene. But some companies in the field, like Violin Memory, are now starting to use acquisitions to differentiate themselves.

The Silicon Valley company was one of the first to sell data storage devices for servers that use flash memory chips, which speed up performance and draw less power. Violin on Friday is announcing a deal to buy GridIron systems, a startup pursuing another approach to make business software work faster.

GridIron, founded in 2007, developed algorithms to speed up applications such as databases that it incorporates in a box called the TurboCharger. The closely held company claims that customer applications can work two to ten times faster using its products.

Don Basile, Violin’s CEO, isn’t disclosing how much it paid for GridIron. But his company, which now has 450 employees, is adding 20 people from GridIron, its building, and most importantly technology that Violin can combine with its own storage systems.

“We have the combination of the hardware and software,” Basile said.

He noted that other flash-storage players have been making similar moves to offer customers more technology options SanDisk, which is known for flash-memory chips and consumer storage devices, last year bought software makers Schooner Information Technology and FlashSoft to help bolster an attack on the enterprise flash storage market.

Violin, which was founded in New Jersey before moving its headquarters west, raised about $80 million in a funding round last summer. In October, Bloomberg reported that Violin had filed for an IPO at a $2 billion valuation under new federal regulations that based on filing confidential registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Basile declined to comment on any future funding possibilities, but said business is good. “Things are going well,” he said. “It’s a very intense industry.”